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Saturday, December 3, 2005

I feel privileged to be asked to do BT3's first guest blog. My name is Laura and I serve with Bill on the board of the Ohio Ornithological Society. We had a great time at the latest OOS workshop in Zanesville as we learned about raptors like 50 Cent and owls like Owl Capone and Owl Parker (to bum a joke from Limbo Jimbo, below). No, really. Two hundred and three Ohioans and great people gathered in this small town to learn all about we could about how to tell those darn accipiters apart, how to distinguish between red-shouldered and red-tailed hawks, and lots more. For those of you who know Bill, you won't be surprised to hear he helped make the event fun and sometimes even a bit silly (ask him about the sheep jokes!). But one things stands out for me: that we're all participating in a bit of history in the making. Our young Society (still toddling at 18 months) already has under its belt 640 members, at least four major-event workshops, one annual meeting, and multitudes of laughs, good times, and great learning. I've got the feeling that there's a certain magic involved with all these great people coming together like this - who could possibly name them all but I'll start with those I see across the table from me at the Buckeye Grill at Holiday Inn, Zanesville (home of the proud Holindrome and good, if not tardy, fish and chips): Judy, Hugh, Lisa, Cheryl, Peter, Su, Jason, Jen, and many others.

Our Master Of Ceremonies, Bernie Master from Columbus, Ohio, looked into his crystal ball and saw that our main speakers for today's conference (Jimbo McCormac, Julie Zickefoose, and BT3 himself), are likely to find themselves in Ohio's recordbooks as being among Ohio's most significant contributors to the study and enjoyment of Ohio's birds. I don't doubt that one bit.

Here's to Bill, Julie, and Jim for a lifetime of good birding, great writing, and wonderful cameraderie within the world of birds. Laura Kammermeier (Kent, OH, soon to be Rochester, NY).

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About Bill

Bill of the Birds

Bill Thompson III is the editor of Bird Watcher's Digest by day. He's also a keen birder, the author of many books, a dad, a field trip leader, an ecotourism consultant, a guitar player, the host of the "This Birding Life" podcast, a regular speaker/performer on the birding festival circuit, a gentleman farmer, and a fungi to be around. His North American life list is somewhere between 673 and 675. His favorite bird is the red-headed woodpecker. His "spark bird" was a snowy owl. He has watched birds in 25 countries and 44 states. But his favorite place to watch birds is on the 80-acre farm he shares with his wife, artist/writer Julie Zickefoose. Some kind person once called Bill "The Pied Piper of Birding" and he has been trying to live up to that moniker ever since.